Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Education

Supervisor

Crooks, Claire

Abstract

In recent years a variety of evidence-based programs have been developed to promote mental health and reduce violence among youth, including those considered to be the most at risk. However, simply providing evidence-based programming to settings that serve vulnerable youth does not ensure the efficacy of these programs because of the unique contextual factors, strengths, and needs of those youth and settings. There is often a disparity between the efficacy of a program identified in a research context and the effectiveness of a program in its application in real world settings. The purpose of this study was to explore this gap through investigating the successes and challenges of implementing healthy relationships programs (the HRP and HRP-E) in a variety of contexts where vulnerable youth receive support. These contexts included school systems, community mental health, the youth justice sector, and child welfare. Semi-structured interviews and implementation surveys were used. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data, and descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data. Through using a mixed-methods approach, the goal was to explore the experiences and perspectives of the communities in which the HRP and HRP-E were being implemented, with the ultimate goal of facilitating more effective programming and research in the future. The results of this study found that there are a variety of successes and challenges that are universal across contexts, as well as numerous outcomes unique to specific contexts. To organize the results of this study and embed the findings within implementation research, the Consolidated Framework for Advancing Implementation Science (CFIR) was used.

Summary for Lay Audience

To support vulnerable youth, promote mental health, and reduce violence, a variety of intervention programs have been developed throughout the years. Currently, there has been a push for evidence-based intervention programs, which are now considered part of best practice when working with vulnerable youth. However, to ensure the efficacy of evidence-based programs, they are typically researched in controlled settings. Because of this, simply providing evidence-based programming to settings that support vulnerable youth does not ensure the effectiveness of these programs because of the unique contextual factors, strengths, and needs of those youth and settings. Therefore, there is often a disparity between the efficacy of a program identified in a research context and the effectiveness of a program in its application in the real world. The purpose of this study was to explore this gap through investigating the successes and challenges of implementing healthy relationships programs (the HRP and HRP-E) in a variety of contexts where vulnerable youth receive support. These contexts included school systems, community mental health, the youth justice sector, and child welfare. To this end, a variety of methods were used, including interviewing facilitators and administrators implementing the HRP/HRP-E and using implementation surveys to collect additional data. The interviews allowed us to delve deeply into the experiences of those running the program in the real world, and the surveys allowed us to reach a wide variety of participants. As such, both qualitative and quantitative data was obtained for this study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data, and descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data. The goal of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of the communities in which the HRP and HRP-E were being implemented, with the ultimate goal of facilitating more effective programming and research in the future. The results of this study found that there are a variety of successes and challenges that are universal across contexts, as well as numerous outcomes unique to specific contexts.

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